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unit 2 psych
vocab
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| perception | the process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, enabling us to recognize objects and events as meaningful. |
| bottom-up processing | information processing that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information. |
| top-down processing | information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations. |
| schemas | a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. |
| perceptual set | a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another. |
| attention | the cognitive process of selectively focusing on specific stimuli or information while ignoring others |
| selective attention | focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus. |
| cocktail party effect | the cognitive ability to focus on one auditory stimulus, like a single conversation, while filtering out numerous other sounds and conversations in a noisy environment |
| inattentional blindness | failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere. |
| change blindness | failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness. |
| Gestalt Psychology | an organized whole. psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes. |
| Closure | the process of resolving a situation or problem, leading to a sense of completion and peace |
| figure and ground | the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground). |
| proximity | the principle that objects close to each other are perceived as a group, or a single unit, rather than separate elements |
| similarity | the degree of likeness between two or more objects, people, or ideas, and is a fundamental concept in perception, cognition, and social psychology |
| binocular cues | a depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes. |
| retinal disparity | a binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance — the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object. |
| monocular cues | a depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone. |
| relative clarity | a monocular cue for depth perception where objects that are farther away appear less clear, hazy, or blurry, while closer objects appear sharper and more detailed |
| texture gradient | a monocular depth cue where a gradual change from coarse to fine texture signals increasing distance |
| linear perspective | a monocular cue for depth perception where parallel lines appear to converge in the distance, creating the illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface |
| interposition | a monocular depth cue where one object partially blocking the view of another object is perceived as being closer |
| perceptual constancies | perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change. |
| apparent motion | the illusion of movement created by a sequence of static images or objects |
| concept | a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. |
| prototype | a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a crow). |
| assimilation | interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas. |
| accommodation | (2) in developmental psychology, adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new information. |
| executive functions | cognitive skills that work together, enabling us to generate, organize, plan, and implement goal-directed behavior. |
| algorithm | a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier — but also more error-prone — use of heuristics. |
| heuristic | a simple thinking strategy — a mental shortcut — that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm. |
| representativeness heuristics | judging the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information. |
| availability heuristics | judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common. |
| mental set | a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past. |
| priming | the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response. |
| framing | the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments. |
| Gabler's fallacy | a cognitive error where a person mistakenly believes that past independent events influence the probability of future independent events |
| sunk-cost fallacy | a cognitive bias where people continue an endeavor due to previously invested resources like time, money, or effort, even if it's no longer beneficial |
| functional fixedness | a cognitive bias where an individual fails to recognize alternative uses for an object because they are fixated on its traditional or familiar function |
| creativity | the ability to produce new and valuable ideas. |
| divergent thinking | expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions. |
| convergent thinking | narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution. |
| explicit memory | retention of facts and experiences that we can consciously know and “declare.” (Also called declarative memory.) |
| episodic memory | explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems |
| semantic memory | explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems |
| implicit memory | retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection. (Also called nondeclarative memory.) |
| procedural memory | a type of long-term, implicit memory that enables individuals to perform tasks and skills automatically and unconsciously, without having to consciously recall the steps |
| prospective memory | a cognitive function that involves remembering to perform an intended action in the future |
| long-term potentiation | an increase in a nerve cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory. |
| working memory | a newer understanding of short-term memory; conscious, active processing of both (1) incoming sensory information, and (2) information retrieved from long-term memory. |
| visuospatial sketchpad | a memory component that briefly holds information about objects’ appearance and location in space. |
| long-term memory | the relatively permanent and limitless archive of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences. |
| multi-store model | a psychological framework that proposes memory is structured into three distinct stores: sensory, short-term, and long-term memory |
| sensory memory | the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system. |
| central executive | a memory component that coordinates the activities of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad. |
| phonological loop | a memory component that briefly holds auditory information. |
| iconic memory | a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second. |
| echoic memory | a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds. |
| shallow processing | encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words. |
| deep processing | encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention. |
| automatic processing | unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of familiar or well-learned information, such as sounds, smells, and word meanings. |
| effortful processing | encoding that requires attention and conscious effort. |
| encoding | the process of getting information into the memory system — for example, by extracting meaning. |
| storing | the process of retaining information in the brain over time for later retrieval, acting as the second stage of memory after encoding |
| retrieval | the process of getting information out of memory storage. |
| structural processing | a shallow level of memory encoding that focuses on the superficial, physical characteristics of a stimulus, such as its appearance |
| phenomics processing | refers to the computational and analytical methods used to systematically study and integrate vast amounts of complex data related to an individual's or population's observable characteristics, including behavioral, cognitive, and neural syst |
| semantic processing | the cognitive process of understanding and interpreting the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences by linking them to concepts stored in memory |
| encode | the initial process of transforming sensory information into a format that can be stored in memory |
| mnemonic devices | memory aids that use associations, patterns, or imagery to help encode, store, and retrieve information |
| method of Loci | a mnemonic technique that enhances memory recall by associating information with specific locations in a familiar mental "palace" |
| chunking | organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically. |
| categories | a set of things (objects, people, ideas) that are grouped together because they are equivalent in some way, share common characteristics, and are used to organize knowledge |
| hierarchies | a structured system where individuals or concepts are arranged in a ranked order, with some being higher or lower than others |
| the spacing effect | the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice. |
| massed practice | a learning method where practice or study occurs in one long, concentrated session with little to no rest between trials or tasks |
| distributed practice | a learning strategy where study or practice sessions are spread out over time, rather than crammed into one long session |
| serial position effect | our tendency to recall best the last items in a list initially (a recency effect) and the first items in a list after a delay (a primacy effect). |
| primacy effect | a cognitive bias in psychology that describes the tendency for individuals to better remember the first items in a series or list compared to later items |
| recency effect | a cognitive bias in psychology that describes the tendency for individuals to remember the most recent information or experiences better than earlier ones |
| short-term memory | briefly activated memory of a few items (such as digits of a phone number while calling) that is later stored or forgotten. |
| maintenance rehearsal | a cognitive process in psychology where information is repeated over and over again to keep it active in short-term memory |
| elaborative rehearsal | a psychological memory strategy that involves connecting new information to existing knowledge to improve long-term recall |
| autobiographic memory | the personal memories of significant events, experiences, and episodes from an individual's life |
| retrograde amnesia | an inability to remember information from one’s past. |
| anterograde amnesia | an inability to form new memories. |
| Alzheimer's disease | a progressive brain disorder that affects memory, thinking, and behavior, leading to a decline in daily functioning |
| infantile amnesia | a phenomenon in psychology where adults have difficulty or an inability to retrieve episodic memories (memories of specific events) from early childhood, typically before the age of 3-4 years |
| recognition | a measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test. |
| retrieval cues | stimuli or hints that help access stored memories |
| context-dependent memory | the phenomenon where memory recall is improved when the retrieval environment or state is the same as the encoding environment or state |
| mood-congruent memory | the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood. |
| state-dependent memory | the phenomenon where a person's recall of information is improved when they are in the same physiological or psychological state as when the information was first learned |
| testing effect | enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning. |
| metacognition | cognition about our cognition; keeping track of and evaluating our mental processes. |
| the forgetting curve | illustrates the rapid decline in memory retention over time, especially when there is no attempt to reinforce the information |
| encoding failure | when information is not properly processed or stored in long-term memory, making it impossible to retrieve later |
| proactive interference | the forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information. |
| retroactive interference | the backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information. |
| tip of the tongue phenomenon | the experience of being confident you know a word or piece of information, but temporarily being unable to retrieve it from memory |
| ego | the partly conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, the superego, and reality. operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure |
| repression | in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories. |
| misinformation effect | occurs when a memory has been corrupted by misleading information. |
| source amnesia | faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined (as when misattributing information to a wrong source). Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories. |
| constructive memory | the psychological concept that memory is not a perfect recording of past events, but an active reconstruction process |
| memory consolidation | the neural storage of a long-term memory. |
| imagination inflation | a psychological effect where imagining an event increases the likelihood that a person will falsely remember that event as having actually occurred |
| intelligence | the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. |
| general intelligence | according to Spearman and others, underlies all mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test. |
| intelligence quotient | defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ = ma/ca × 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100. |
| mental age | a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age. Thus, a child who does as well as an average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8. |
| standardization | defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group. |
| valid | the extent to which a test or experiment measures or predicts what it is supposed to. |
| construct validity | how much a test measures a concept or trait. |
| predictive validity | the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior. |
| reliable | the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms of the test, or on retesting. |
| test-retest reliability | a measure of the consistency of a psychological test or assessment over time. |
| split-half reliability | a measure of internal consistency in psychology that assesses how well the items on a test that measures a single construct correlate with each other |
| stereotype threat | a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype. |
| stereotype lift | a psychological phenomenon where a person's performance improves due to making a downward social comparison with a negatively stereotyped outgroup |
| Flynn effect | the rise in intelligence test performance over time and across cultures. |
| achievement tests | a test designed to assess what a person has learned. |
| aptitude tests | a test designed to predict a person’s future performance; is the capacity to learn. |
| fixed mindset | the view that intelligence, abilities, and talents are unchangeable, even with effort. |
| growth mindset | a focus on learning and growing rather than viewing abilities as fixed. |
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